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The incredible first-round series between the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Clippers reached a new height on Saturday evening with one of the most stunning endings to a game you will ever see. Aaron Gordon played hero with a buzzer-beating dunk to give the Nuggets a series-tying 101-99 victory. It was the first game-winning buzzer-beating dunk in NBA postseason history.

"In the NBA it's really true, you talk about this all season long, it's situational basketball," Nuggets interim coach David Adelman said after the win. "When the shot goes up, there's no reason not to crash, so it was good to see our guys do that. You could say it's a lucky play, but Aaron is -- that's a big, athletic man and he met the ball early."

The Nuggets led by as many as 22 early in the fourth quarter, but the Clippers responded with an extended 32-9 run to go in front for the first time all game on a Bogdan Bogdanovic putback with 1:11 remaining. 

"I think we started turning the ball over a little too much. We let their physicality kind of impact us towards the stretch," Gordon said, when asked how the Clippers got back into the game. "They started kind of switching their defenses up and kind of throwing some gimmick defenses, and I don't think we responded very well. I'm just happy that we're gonna be able to go back and watch the film off a win."

Over the next few possessions, Nikola Jokić tied the game at the free throw line, then gave the Nuggets a two-point lead on an absurd turnaround. Down on the other end, Ivica Zubac tipped in a James Harden miss to tie things back up again with eight seconds remaining. 

That set up what proved to be the final possession. With the game on the line, the Nuggets gave the ball to Jokić, but he wasn't able to get a great look. The Clippers sent a double-team and he was forced into a somewhat wild fadeaway that was way too long. Luckily for him and the Nuggets, though, Gordon was on the scene. 

The veteran forward caught the ball out of midair and slammed it home right as the buzzer sounded. 

An ecstatic Gordon ran off the court and halfway down the tunnel, sure that he had released the ball in time, but the play had to be reviewed. The officials called the basket good on the floor, and upheld that ruling after taking a lengthy look. Somehow, Gordon's fingers had indeed left the ball a split-second before the red light on the backboard came on. 

"Get on the glass, try to get a tip-back, just do whatever my team needs from me to win," Gordon said. "That's a crazy game. That was a crazy game. I don't know. That was tough."

Gordon finished with 14 points, six rebounds and five assists in one of his typical all-around showings, and made sure that the Nuggets didn't waste another spectacular performance from Jokić, who went for 36 points, 21 rebounds and eight assists. 

Jokić became the eighth player in postseason history with at least 35 points, 20 rebounds and five assists in a game, and the first since Giannis Antetokounmpo in 2022. For the series, Jokić is now averaging 28.5 points, 13.5 rebounds and 10.8 assists. 

This was the third game in this series to be decided by three or fewer points, and was in danger of being a devastating, and essentially season-ending loss for the Nuggets. If they had blown this game after leading by 22 in the fourth quarter, and gone down 3-1, it's hard to imagine how they would have bounced back. 

Instead, the series is all square at 2-2 and they'll be riding the emotion of Gordon's heroics back to Denver for a pivotal Game 5 on Tuesday. 

"That's gonna be on NBA TV some day and I'm glad we won the game," Adelman said. "I"m glad it will be on 'Nuggets day' and not 'Clippers day.' Hell of a win."